Yea yea yea…we’ve all heard we can’t spot reduce an area.
And while this is true to some extent, doing workouts focused on the areas we would like to “improve” while dialing in our diet is ESSENTIAL if we want results.
We build the lean muscle that looks amazing with our workouts and then REVEAL that muscle with our diet.
By working specific areas with more focused movements, we can mobilize the fatty acids in the surrounding tissues.
So if you do moves focused on your triceps, you can mobilize more fatty acids in the tissues around your triceps.
But you can’t just then do a bazillion tricep extensions and expect results. You’ve got to put those mobilized fatty acids to work to burn them off!
That’s why you want to include moves to target your trouble zones while also burning off those mobilized fatty acids with compound moves and cardio!
You can do all of these things in a single workout even. Even if you only have your own bodyweight and 10 minutes!
So if you need a killer, quick workout to target some of those common “trouble zones,” like your abs, glutes, inner thighs and triceps, you’ll love this Burner workout from my 28-Day Core Burner program! (And if you need help with the diet side of this things, this program does have that option!)
The 10-Minute Trouble Zones Burner
Set a timer for 20 second intervals of work and move quickly from one move to the next. Try not to rest during the 20 seconds of work, but modify as needed. Complete 3 rounds then perform the active rest for about 20 seconds and move on to 3 rounds of the second circuit. Beginners may rest fully instead of doing the Wacky Jacks.
CIRCUIT #1: 20 seconds Mountain Climber Burpee 20 seconds per side Curtsy Lunge to Leg Lift 20 seconds Alternating Leg V-Ups
20 seconds Wacky Jacks
CIRCUIT #2: 20 seconds Alternating side Lunges with Hops 20 seconds per side Tricep Push Ups 20 seconds Spiderman Mountain Climbers
If you love this workout, check out the entire 28-Day Core Burner program…there are even follow along workouts if you enjoy doing a video workout with me!
When you have access to limited space and equipment, sliders are a great way to make basic bodyweight moves even more fun and challenging while being easy to take with you anywhere!
So whether you need a quick go-to option at home or a workout when you’re short on time and traveling, try this Slider Upper Body And Core Burner that’s just about 10 minutes long!
Set a timer for 30 second intervals of work and move right from one exercise to the next. The final exercise in each circuit can also be modified to be a full rest interval if needed. Complete 2 rounds through each circuit, resting up to 1 minute between circuits.
To do Knee Tuck Push Ups, place your feet on sliders and set up in a plank position with your hands under your shoulders.
Then perform a push up, keeping your body in a nice straight line as you drop your chest to the ground. Press back up with your body moving as one unit. Your arms should made an arrow shape with your body. Do not shrug or let your arms form a T.
In the high plank position, tuck your knees in. Do not let your butt go way up in the air as you tuck or use the tuck as a chance to rest. Pull your knees in using your abs and then straighten your legs right back out and repeat the push up.
As you return to the plank position, do not sag your hips or let your butt go up in the air. Also, make sure your hands stay outside your chest and don’t creep forward past your shoulders.
Beginners can do this off an incline and do a single knee tuck at a time without the sliders or they can do a push up from their knees then move to the high plank position to perform the tuck.
Alternating Slider Tabletop Curls:
To do Alternating Slider Tabletop Curls, place a slider under each foot and sit on the ground with your heels on the sliders and hands behind you on the ground. Turn your hands out or back as you place your hands on the ground behind your butt.
Bend your knees and bring your heels back close to you so you can bridge up into a tabletop bridge. Squeeze your glutes as you lift your butt up and press your chest out.
You can perform a posterior pelvic tilt to help engage your abs as you hold this tabletop position and even slightly tuck your chin to look out beyond your knees.
The slowly extend one leg out before using your hamstring to pull your heel on the slider back in. Then extend the other leg out, pulling the heel back in again with your hamstring.
As you pull the slider back in, really even think about driving the slider down into the ground to help work your hamstring more.
Do not let your hips drop toward the ground as you extend. You want to keep your abs and butt engaged the entire time as you slowly alternate sides.
Slider Ab Extensions:
To do Slider Ab Extensions, place a slider under each hand and set up as if you’re doing a push up from your knees.
You want to have your hands under your shoulders and your body in a nice straight line from your head to your knees. Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes.
Slide both hands out as far as you can, lowering your body toward the ground. Extend out, if you can, until you’re hovering just above the ground.
Then pull the sliders back under your shoulders without bending your arms as your body moves back into the plank position. By sliding your hands back under, pulling with your back to bring your hands back in, your body will move back into the plank position.
Do not sit your butt back or let your lower back engage as you extend out or pull your hands back in. You want to brace your abs and keep your body in a nice straight line the entire time.
Once back in that knee plank position, repeat the slide back out. Do not let your hips sag, lower back arch or butt go up in the air. Also, make sure you don’t sit your butt back to help pull your arms back in. You only “rise up” because your hands come back under your shoulders.
Beginners may not slide out as far or they may extend one hand, then the other, then pull one in at a time.
Banana Hold:
To do the Banana hold, start by lying on your back with your legs out straight and your arms reaching overhead on the ground. Your legs should be together and your arms should be right by your head.
Press your low back into the ground and draw your belly button in toward your spine as you lift your legs and arms up off the ground. Your neck and head should be in a neutral position between your arms and your legs should be together and out straight a few inches off the ground.
Hold here, squeezing your legs together as you try to get your shoulder blades up off the ground while keeping your low back against the ground and abs engaged.
Beginners may find they need to lift their legs up higher toward the ceiling or bend their knees to keep their low back against the ground and their abs engaged. Beginners can also try an easier variation of the Pelvic Tilt if they feel their low back taking over.
Fly Push Ups:
To do the Fly to Push Up, set up in a push up position with a towel or slider under each hand. You can do the Fly to Push Up from your knees (beginner) or toes (advanced).
Beginners may also want to start with one hand on a slider and the other hand on the ground (black frame). They will then slide the hand on the slider out to the side and perform a push up. As they push up, they will slide the hand back in toward their hand on the ground. They will complete all reps on one side before switching.
If the single slider Fly to Push Up is too much, this move can be done by just stepping the hand out to the side on the ground or even on an incline. To advance the Fly to Push Up, you will use two sliders. Start at the top of a push up and then slide one hand out to the side and perform a push up. After the push up, slide the hand back into the starting position. Even though this is a wider push up, don’t let your elbows flare way out by your ears. Then slide the other hand out on the slider and perform a push up. Keep alternating sides until all reps are complete.
If you want to do the Full Fly to Push Up, you will have a slider on each hand. You will then slide both hands out to the side as you lower into the push up and then pull them back in as you come back up out of the push up. You will perform the fly as you perform the push up instead of sliding out, doing a push up and sliding back in.
Slider Plank to Bulldog:
To do the Slider Plank to Bulldog, place a slider under each foot and set up in a high plank position with your hands under your shoulders and your body in a nice straight line down to your feet. Your feet should be no wider than hip-width apart.
Holding this plank position, use your abs to tuck one knee in and then the other to come into a bulldog position.
Your knees should be about under your hips or in slightly closer in, but do not tuck them so far in you can sit back on your heels. Really focus on using your abs to slide them in, bracing your core to keep your body in a nice straight line the entire time.
Then extend your legs back out, one at a time. Make sure your butt stays down and you don’t slide back too far, but instead keep your hands under your shoulders. Then repeat, drawing one knee in then the other.
Body Saw:
To do the Body Saw, set up in a plank position on your forearms with your feet on the sliders. Elbows should be under your shoulders and your feet should be together or no wider than hip-width apart.
With your body in a nice straight line from your head to your heels, slide your feet back and lengthen through your arms. As you slide back you should extend your body down to your elbows, shifting your shoulders back behind your elbows. Do not let your hips sag as you slide back. You are extending your triceps as you slide back.
Then, using your lats and core, pull your feet back in to the plank position. When you come back into the plank position, do not let your butt go up in the air. Make sure your hips don’t sag either.
Then slide back out, lengthening your body out as much as you can. Again do not let your low back take over. Make sure that you also aren’t simply sliding forward and then back to the start but are actually sliding back and lengthening through your arms.
Superman Wave:
To do Superman Waves, lie face down on the ground with you arms reaching overhead and your legs out straight behind you.
Then lift your arms and legs off the ground, engaging your glutes and back to lift. Try to lift your chest up as high as you can and get your quads off the ground as much as possible.
Holding here, sweep one arm out and down toward your side, keeping your arms straight. Keep the other arm reaching straight out overhead as you wave the other arm down.
As you lower one arm down by your side, keep it as high off the ground as possible to work the back of your shoulder.
Wave the arm back overhead then sweep the other arm out and down to your side. Keep alternating sides as you engage your back and butt to stay up in the superman position. Move at a controlled pace.
Whether you have a desk job, a long commute, work on your laptop on the couch, text on your phone as you walk, watch TV…you’re spending probably way too much time in flexion.
You’re hunched over, your head is forward, your hips, knees, elbows and even wrists are bent….
And then you start to suffer from aches and pains…Your neck, shoulder, back, hips, knees….
You get massages and maybe even see a chiropractor. Yet the aches and pains just continue to come back and maybe even start getting worse.
Your workouts suffer and you either feel limited in what you can do or you start to notice things aren’t working correctly and you’re getting injured.
Guess what?
This all has to do with your posture!
You know what makes all of this even worse? People then think they simply can no longer do the things they love. They think they’ll just end up injured again if the run or lift or cycle.
And while that is partly true, it isn’t because you can’t get back to doing the things you love. You don’t need to give those things up!
Instead of giving up the activities you love, you need to first do things to improve your posture. If you solve the real problem, you can get back to being active.
But if you never solve the actual problem, you’re just going to have to keep avoiding activities and exercises. And avoidance solves nothing. It may seemingly prevent injury, but not for long.
At some point there will be a “straw that breaks the camel’s back” and your poor posture and imbalances and compensations will lead to injury. And you’ll still suffer from aches and pains.
So stop avoiding the problem and solve it. Allow those massages and adjustments to stick by working to loosen, activate and strengthen the correct muscles and improve your posture so you move and feel better!
This posture workout is focused on strengthening your core and on mobilizing and activating everything between your shoulders and your knees. It should take 10 minutes and can be done as a warm up or as something separate from your workout (which is ideal).
Tools Needed: Ball or Roller, Towel
Set a timer for 30 seconds for each move (or per side) for the first two circuits. Then complete the reps/time as listed for the third circuit.
CIRCUIT #1 – 1 round
Chest Foam Rolling
Bicep Foam Rolling
Quad Foam Rolling
CIRCUIT #2 – 1 round Lying Chest Stretch with Scorpion
Rotational Half Kneeling Hip and Quad Stretch
CIRCUIT #3 – 2 rounds 5 reps per side Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge
10 reps per side Side Plank Clams
30 seconds Forearm Front Plank Hold
Chest Foam Rolling – To roll out your chest in a doorway, it is best to use a smaller, harder ball. Stand facing the wall besides the doorway and place the ball between your chest and the wall. You want to be right on the edge of the wall so that you can extend your arm forward through the doorway. Start with the ball in your chest besides your shoulder and below your collarbone. Press into the ball and raise the arm on the side you are digging into up toward the ceiling and back down. Because you are in a doorway, you can raise the arm straight out in front of you as you swing the arm very slowly up toward the ceiling and down toward the ground. Hold on any tight spots as you move your arm. You can also roll the ball along the muscles below your collarbone and even down around your shoulder toward your armpit. Hold on any tight spots you find and even lift and lower your arm. Then switch and do the other side.
Bicep Foam Rolling – To roll out your biceps, you will place a ball or roller up on a table or desk like you did to roll out your triceps. You will then rotate your chest toward the ground and place your bicep down on the roller or ball right above the inside of your elbow. Rock slightly side to side to dig out your bicep. Hold if you find an especially tight spot and even flex and relax your bicep by flexing and extending your elbow if your desk or table allows. Then move the roller higher up your bicep toward your shoulder. Again rock side to side and hold on any tight spots. If you don’t have a table or desk you can use, you can also do this against a wall although you may not be able to flex and extend your arm then.
Quad Foam Rolling – To roll out your Quads, take the foam roller and lay over it as if you are about to do a plank. Start with the roller right above your knees. Rock side to side and then move it up a little higher on the front of your legs. As you rock and move the roller higher, make sure to pause and hold on any extra tight spots until the pain lessens a bit. Work your way all the way up to your hips. If you find any tight spots, while you hold on them, flex and relax your quad to help the tight spots loosen. To apply more pressure, place only one leg down on the roller and rock side to side, holding on any extra tight spots.
Lying Chest Stretch with Scorpion – To do the Lying Chest Stretch with Scorpion, lie on your belly with your arms out straight at shoulder height. Bend the elbow of one arm to 90 degrees so that your upper arm is in line with your shoulder. Then lift the opposite leg from the bent arm up and bend your knee to kick your foot over and behind you to try to touch the toe down to the ground behind you. As you rotate your leg over, press your chest open with your straight arm. Feel a stretch through the chest and shoulder on the side you are kicking toward. You will also feel a stretch through your low back. Make sure that as you rotate open and kick the leg back over your body that you relax your head down onto the ground. Hold for a second or two then bend the other arm and kick the other leg back and over. Alternate sides, holding for a second or two each way.
Rotational Half Kneeling Hip and Quad Stretch – To do the Rotational Half-Kneeling Hip and Quad Stretch, set up in a half kneeling position with your right leg forward. Then place your left hand on the ground and lean forward. Reach back with your right hand and grab your left foot. Pull your foot in toward your butt as you drive your hip forward. Feel a stretch down your hip and quad. As you press your hip forward, rotate your chest open toward your front leg. You may also feel a stretch through your spine and down the outside of that front leg. Hold here and breathe as you relax deeper into the stretch. You can also open your knee outward to stretch into your adductor or rotate your knee inward to hit your TFL. Beginners may need a towel or stretch strap to help them do this stretch as it requires more flexibility to reach around and grab the leg with the rotation.
Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge – To do the Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and lift up onto your hands and the balls of your feet. Then lift your right hand up and bring your left leg under your body and through and place your left foot flat on the ground. Rotate your hips up toward the ceiling, squeezing your glutes to lift them up as high as you can. Really try to open your hips up toward the ceiling and squeeze your glutes to fully extend your hips. With your hips lifted, reach your right hand down toward the ground, rotating your chest toward the floor. Really reach your hand toward the ground as the rest of your body opens toward the ceiling to feel a nice stretch as you rotate. Feel your glutes working to keep BOTH hips up, while you reach your hand down. Don’t let your hips drop as you rotate. You should feel a nice rotation and stretch through your spine. You are twisting almost like someone wringing out a towel. Make sure though that you aren’t hyperextending your low back to bridge up but are instead squeezing your glutes. Then drop your hips and step your foot back through while placing your hand back down on the ground. Rotate to the other side, bridging your hips up as high as you can. (Click here for a video – shown at 1:39)
Side Plank Clams – To do the Side Plank Clam, lie on your side propped up on your forearm with your elbow underneath your shoulder. Bend your knees so that your feet and lower legs are behind you. You can place your top hand on your hip or reach it up toward the ceiling, but don’t touch it down to the ground. With your legs stacked, lift your hip up off the ground, driving through your knee and forearm. As you lift your hips up, lift your top leg up and toward the ceiling, keeping the knee bent. Open up as high as you can then lower the leg back down. As you lower the leg back down, lower your hip back down to the ground. Repeat, lifting up and, as you do, raise your top leg up toward the ceiling. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Make sure you are lifting straight up and not rotating toward the ground or open toward the ceiling. Also keep your elbow under your shoulder and do not get too spread out. When you lift the top leg, don’t rotate open as you do. Really focus on lifting with your glute.
Forearm Front Plank Hold – To do the Basic Forearm Front Plank, lie on your stomach and bend your elbows so that you’re propped up on your forearms. Your legs should be straight out behind you with your feet together. Flex your feet and lift up onto your forearms and toes. Your elbows should be stacked under your shoulders and your feet should be together. On your forearms and toes, create a nice straight line with your body from your head to your heels. Make sure that in this position you are concentrating on tucking your pelvic to engage your abs as you squeeze your glutes and quads to keep your legs straight. Make sure that you are also squeezing your legs together as you hold and driving back through your heels. Do not push forward onto your toes. Also, do not let your chest sag toward the ground or your upper back round. You want a nice flat upper back. Feel your lats engage to pull your elbows down under your shoulders and toward your hips to protect your shoulders. While holding, don’t just go through the motions. Assess whether the right muscles are engaged and even consciously activate them. If you begin to shake, you know you are engaging the muscles. Hold in this position for a set amount of time or until your form starts to break down. If you feel this in your low back, assess whether or not you are performing a proper Pelvic Tilt. Beginners will want to start with a Plank from their knees.
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